Fraudulent and risky e-shops or be careful where you shop

What is a fraudulent and risky e-shop

A fraudulent or subprime e-shop is a web shop that pretends to be legitimate, but its real aim is to deceive customers, often by not sending the ordered goods at all or by sending counterfeit or low-quality products. It may also be problematic, for example, in terms of data protection, consumer protection or other legal obligations.

A list of risky e-shops can be found on the website of the Czech Trade Inspection Authority. The Inspectorate draws particular attention to anonymous owners of individual e-shops. The danger in this case is that the customer does not know with whom they are entering into a purchase contract, which means that in the event of a problem they will not know who to turn to.

How to spot a fraudulent e-shop

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has come up with a guide for identifying a fraudulent e-shop. It lists a total of 10 warning signs. Let’s look at them in more detail:

• Missing contact information: Legitimate e-shops always provide complete contact information, including physical address, phone number and email address.
• Missing terms and conditions: Terms and conditions should be easy to find and understand. They contain important information about purchasing, complaints and returns.
• Prices are suspiciously low: Extremely low prices compared to competing stores often signal fraud and serve to lure gullible customers.
• E-shop has no traceable reviews: If an e-shop has no reviews or is hard to find, it may be a sign that the shop is either new or untrustworthy.
• Negative customer reviews that point out fraudulent practices are a clear warning sign.
• Texts full of errors and typos: Texts on the site that contain many errors and typos may indicate that the site is not professionally managed. However, many legitimate e-shops also have texts full of errors, as they are often automated translations from a foreign language.
• Inadequate or incomplete product descriptions may indicate that the e-shop is not trying to provide customers with all the information they need.
• Payment by card only: An e-shop should offer a variety of payment methods, including cash on delivery. If payment can only be made by credit card, for example, this is suspicious.
• New, unknown shop: New shops without a history or an indication of their operator are risky.
• Confusing product mix: An e-shop that offers a wide and disparate range of products with no obvious specialisation is suspicious. Legitimate shops have a clear concept and focus.

But in addition to these warning signs, you should also pay attention to :

• Inadequate web security: legitimate e-shops use secure connections (https) to protect sensitive customer data.
• Suspicious ads: Fraudulent e-shops often use aggressive advertising techniques such as spam emails, pop-up ads and banners on questionable websites.
• Pressure to buy quickly: Fraudsters often create a sense of urgency by using limited-time offers and discounts to get customers to buy quickly without sufficient consideration.
• Domains with suspicious addresses: Fraudulent e-shops often use domains that resemble well-known brands but contain minor typos or variations (e.g. amaz0n.com instead of amazon.com).
• Sudden changes in the name or design of an e-shop: An e-shop that changes its name or design frequently may be an attempt by fraudsters to escape negative reviews or authorities.
• Lack of GDPR information: Legitimate e-shops must comply with the GDPR ‘s data protection requirements and provide information about how they process personal data.

Fraudulent brokerage e-shops

A speciality are the intermediary e-shops. These are intended to serve as a virtual marketplace, i.e. an intermediary between buyers and third parties (often foreign suppliers). These shops may be legitimate, but they can often carry risks associated with fraud.

Often, low-quality goods of unclear origin are found here, without providing very basic information (such as the composition of clothing). However, once you try to resolve a quality problem with an e-commerce intermediary, or even undelivered goods, you will not succeed. The e-shop will start making excuses for the supplier. In the case of an intermediary, you are then not entitled to withdraw from the contract, make a claim, etc., because these apply to an unknown supplier.

The intermediary character must be clear

If the e-shop is not clear that it is an intermediary (it only has this information in the terms and conditions), the provisions of the Civil Code may apply to this situation. This states that “A provision of the terms and conditions which the other party could not reasonably have expected is ineffective if it has not been expressly accepted by that party; a contrary provision is disregarded. Whether such a provision is such a provision shall be assessed not only by reference to its content but also by reference to the manner in which it is expressed.”

In such a case, you have the chance to recover the goods and the claim directly from the intermediary e-shop.

Getting money is difficult, but not impossible

In case you have been a victim of a fraudulent e-shop, we have bad news for you. If its owner is anonymous, you may not be able to uncover his identity at all. Moreover, these e-shop owners are often based outside the Czech Republic.

In some cases, however, the owner can be traced. This is especially true for smaller amateur-run e-shops. To find the identity of the owner you can use, for example, the who.is website. It can find out when the domain was registered and who owns it. However, sometimes this information can be hidden by privacy services. You can also use the Wayback Machine to explore a website’s history.

You can also try using IP lookup tools (such as IPlocation) to get information about the location of the server on which the e-commerce store is hosted. This can give you clues as to where the fraudster is operating from. The Reverse IP lookup tool will then allow you to find out what other websites are hosted on the same IP address.

The bank through which you made the payment to the fraudster ‘s account can also help you uncover the identity of the fraudster. You can also try sharing your experiences online to find other victims of fraud. If the total damage is more than 10,000 crowns, it will be a criminal offence.

However, you should always report the fact that you have been a victim of fraud to the police. They have access to tools and resources that can help you discover the identity of the fraudster. At the same time, victims can also be counted and with them the total amount of damage.

To help the police as much as possible, provide them with any evidence. This includes, but is not limited to, documentation of the transaction (order confirmation and bank statements), all communications with the e-shop (emails, chats), information about the e-shop (website URL, contact details, WHOIS information), advertisements (screenshots of ads), evidence of fraudulent activity, and reviews from other victims if applicable.

Summary of

Fraudulent e-shops cheat customers, for example by failing to deliver ordered goods or providing poor quality products. The main warning signs include missing contact details and terms and conditions, suspiciously low prices, lack of reviews, negative ratings, text full of errors, sketchy product details, credit card only payment options, unfamiliar shops, confusing product ranges, poor site security, suspicious advertisements, pressure to buy quickly, suspicious domains, sudden changes in the name or appearance of the e-shop and lack of information about GDPR. If you have been a victim of fraud, you can try to uncover the identity of the fraudster using tools such as WHOIS, IP geolocation and Reverse IP lookup, or through your bank, and report the fraud to the police. If you are filing a lawsuit and filing a criminal complaint, it pays to get professional help in the form of an experienced attorney.